This invention relates generally to a tool for loosening or separating tight fitting threaded or otherwise connected matching components and more particularly to a composite holder and opener adapted for use in holding an expresso coffeemaker to aid in separating the threaded connecting sections thereon.
Expresso coffeemakers are well known in the culinary utensil art and are available in a variety of cup sizes and shapes. Many of these coffeemakers have a generally octagonally shaped base and are made of cast aluminum, stainless steel or other material capable of withstanding the heat applied to the coffeemaker to bring the brewing water used therein to a boil.
In the octagonally shaped expresso coffeemakers to which the present invention is particularly adapted, there is a lower compartment and an upper compartment which are joined together at the medial section of the coffeemaker by means of a threaded seal assembly which permits the upper compartment to be mounted on the lower compartment so as to provide a water tight seal therebetween. In the use of such expresso coffeemakers when the coffeemaker is allowed to cool the contracting forces of the metal create an extremely tight seal between the upper compartment and the lower compartment and it becomes difficult to manually separate the threaded seal assembly so as to permit the expresso coffeemaker to be properly cleaned and prepared for reuse.
The prior art shows coffee pot holders in U.S. Pat. No. 529,953, jar gripping devices as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,615,196 and 3,999,261, and jar lid opening devices as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,950,801 and 4,171,650. However, these devices are not adapted to meet the problems of aiding and abeting the separation of the threaded components of more particularly an octagonally shaped expresso coffeemaker.
The present invention provides an improved composite device which is designed to provide both a holder into which the lower compartment of the expresso coffeemaker fits so that it can act as a hot plate and so formed that it will engage the lower compartment and hold it in an immovable position to allow manual rotation of the upper compartment relative thereto and thus assist and abet the breaking of the water tight seal between the threaded connecting sections of the lower compartment and upper compartment of the expresso coffeemaker.
The device in accordance with the present invention consists of a generally planar member which can be fixedly positioned and has means on at least one face thereof which is shaped and sized to match and mate with the lower compartment of an expresso coffeemaker, to hold the same in an immovable position when it is attempted to break the threaded seal assembly forming the connecting elements of these compartments.